My chosen text is the Saga of Erik the Red. I have a basic idea of what makes him famous, but I have never read any Norse Sagas before and he is a historical figure that I would like to know more about.
Checkpoint II
Annotated Bibliography:
Thorsson, Ӧrnólfur, ed. The Sagas of the Icelanders . New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print. This is the main text that I have read for this assignment. The editorial board for this collection is mainly from academic backgrounds such as the University of Iceland. This collection is for those who would like to know more about Viking literature and culture through the different sagas. Some of these sagas are more mythological than historical, but the saga I needed to focus on was the Saga of Erik the Red.
Andrew J. Dugmore, Keller, Christian, Thomas H. McGovern. “Norse Greenland Settlement: Reflections on Climate Change, Trade, and the Contrasting Fates of Human Settlements in the North Atlantic Islands.” Arctic Anthropology 44 (2007): 12-36 JSTOR. Web. 13 October 2014.
This article demonstrates the different struggles of living in the Viking society of Greenland, and how harsh the climate would be especially during the winter. Though this article is mainly for anthropologists, there are those who would look to this article to get a grasp on why the Vikings had to ‘go viking’ so to speak. Andrew Dugmore comes from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Christian Keller comes from the University of Oslo, Norway and Thomas McGovern comes from Hunter college, so these authors are fully credible for their work.
Henry Kratz. “Veröld við by Jónas Kristjánsson Review.” World Literature Today 73 (1999): 549-550. JSTOR. Web. 3 October 2014.
Contrary to popular belief a review can be a great source for gathering information, especially on a narrow topic such as this. This review would be geared toward someone who is looking to learn more about a text through someone else’s observations. Kratz brings up the issue that the Greenland Saga and Erik the Red’s Saga are a continuation of the same story. This story is believed to be the history of the Viking colonies of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Henry Kratz’s review was published by the University of Oklahoma, and he is known for his work with Germanic languages. He therefore has the credibility for his reviews.
Summary of Chosen Text:
Erik The Red’s Saga is one of struggle and strife. It begins by telling the history of Erik’s lineage and how his family came to Iceland. Afterwards it tends to jump between points of view, with the main ones being Leif Eriksson and Thorstein Eriksson. During this time, Christianity is taking the Viking world by storm and the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, orders Leif to convert Greenland to Christianity. This causes tension between the settlers of the Greenland colony, as about half of them still wish to follow the Viking religion. Eventually, Leif sets sail to find better land due to a shortage of resources in Greenland and ends up travelling to Vinland, while Thorstein gets into all sorts of trouble. The saga then follows a young man by the name of Thorfinn Karlsefni, who marries a woman named Gudrid, who is from the Greenland colony, and has great importance later in her life. Karlsefni and a few others set sail as well. They went to Ireland for at least a fortnight (two weeks) and get into trouble with the locals. The saga ends by telling us about the descendants of Karlsefni and Gudrid, which two of them end up being Bishops, as Christianity has fully taken hold at this point.
Critical Analysis/Close Readings:
“The cooks boiled the meat and they ate it, but it made everyone ill. Thorall then came up and spoke ‘Didn’t Old Redbeard prove to be more help than your Christ? This was my payment for the poem I composed about Thor, my guardian, who’s seldom disappointed me.’ Once they heard this no one wanted to eat the whale meat, they cast it off a cliff and threw themselves on God’s mercy.” (Thorsson, 668) This quote comes from the end of section 8 of the saga. It describes a situation where the people of Greenland need food and a whale washes up on shore. The whale ends up being poisonous to eat for the group. When Thorall says his piece, the other members of the group throw out the whale meat immediately. This quote shows how there was some tension between the different members of the colony, and how Christianity is tearing them apart. I also noticed that Christianity was seen in a more positive light than the Viking religion, which reminds me that the original text was most likely written by a Christian Monk in order to convert the public to Christianity and to legitimize the history of the surrounding area. This is even more believable due to the fact that monks were taken as slaves by Viking societies.
“Leif said the king should decide that, but added that he feared this message would meet with a harsh reception in Greenland. The king said he saw no man more suitable for the job than Leif- ‘and you’ll have the good fortune that’s needed’.” (Thorsson, 661) This quote shows the wisdom of Leif Eriksson and how he would prove to be a great leader when he travels to Vinland later in his life. It also shows Leif’s concern for the reception of the news of being forced to convert to Christianity and abandoning the old way of life. This is shown throughout the text and Erik the Red himself and Thorall are the two biggest advocates of this. Though he does not follow Christian beliefs, Erik is tolerant of its presence in his colony. He shows this when he agrees to marry Karlsefni and Gudrid, for she is a Christian woman. There is much Christian influence throughout the text, but this quote demonstrates the politics of converting a society to a different religion. It also shows that the Viking societies are only beginning to succumb to Christianity, for if the king of Norway has converted to Christianity, then naturally he’d want his subjects to also be converted as well.
“Freydis came out of the camp as they were fleeing. She called, ‘Why do you flee such miserable opponents, men like you who look to me to be capable of killing them off like sheep? Had I a weapon I’m sure I would fight better than any of you.’” (Thorsson, 670)
This quote brings up the speculation that women often fought in Viking society, which most cultures forbade in those days. This surprises me since a Christian monk most likely wrote down the text, which usually did not portray women in such a way unless they were fighting some sort of evil being. This makes me realize that this portion of the text in the original saga may have very well been the case, but had a different meaning to the monk who wrote it down as opposed to the editors of this collection. This shows that anyone in Viking society was valued as a warrior, as the men would usually go and raid a monastery, while the women would defend the home from other threats.
Checkpoint III
Bibliography:
Mancini, J. M. "Discovering Viking America." Critical Inquiry (2002): 868-907. print.
This source tells of the many discoveries of Viking influences in North America and many of the arguments made by Professor R. B. Anderson, such as the very likely possibility that the Vinland colony is actually the eastern part of Massachusetts as opposed to Newfoundland. This text is ideal for someone who would want to find out more about America's past, or even about some unknown adventures of Leif Eriksson. This article even surprised me, as I had no idea that my home state of Massachusetts had been home to Viking influences.
Olson, Julius E. "PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE VINLAND CONTROVERSY." Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (1913): 147-156. print.
This source makes note of the problems in scholarship up until 1913, some of which may still persist to this very day. There is also mention of different scholars and authors in this text, and where they stand on certain issues regarding Viking Sagas. This article is perfect for someone wishing to inquire about problems relating to Viking folklore and how it has been interpreted in texts. Julius Olson is from the University of Wisconsin, so it is clear that he has a credible academic background. It is also worth mentioning that this article was published by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, which says something about the credibility of the article itself.
S., M. A. "The Problem of Wineland Review." The Geographical Journal (1937): 68-69. print.
This source is actually a review of another work dealing with the possibility of where the colonies founded by Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni actually may be. The great thing about reading a review is that it allows the reader to see the flaws of the text in question due to updates in the field from future scholars. The author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson, is a credible author due to his previous works dealing with Norse culture.
Note: I actually found this text through the author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson. I was looking for his article "The Northmen in America" when I came across this review.
Reflection:
There are a few issues in scholarship when it comes to the Viking age of exploration. The one that seems to be the most prevalent is that the exact locations of colonies such as Vinland, Helluland, and others are unknown. One thing, and I actually find this rather amusing, is that these authors make statements about other authors having little faith in the Sagas when it comes to details about the explorers reaching America. There is also speculation amongst multiple scholars that the Natives mentioned in the text in question were actually Eskimos, which would make sense, given how far north the colony of Greenland is compared to the rest of North America. One issue that was mentioned in the Problem with Wineland review was that “…the problem is to decide which of these two accounts to accept as material from which to attempt an elucidation of the actual voyages.” (S. 68) and which author’s version of each text is more accurate. This issue is further evident in the Vinland Controversy article because Julius Olson makes note that one of the scholars mentions strong currents in their interpretation of the Sagas, which would lead to the reason why the Viking explorers actually went farther south than we had originally anticipated.
Query:
When referring to exploration in the times of Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni, there are a few questions that one might have about the whole endeavor. One in particular that inspired me to write about this topic is that how far had the efforts of these Viking explorers gotten? There is more and more evidence that supports Norse explorers reaching North America much, much earlier than Christopher Columbus. One piece of evidence that is still controversial to this day is the Kensington Runestone. From what I understand, the state of Minnesota seems to believe that its heritage traces back to Norse explorers (otherwise, why would their football team be called the Vikings?) which would be a huge gamechanger in terms of our natural history. There is also record of a Viking grave found in Massachusetts, which also adds to the validity of this question, and I do not doubt that there would be Vikings in New England if they had at least gotten as far as Newfoundland along with the speculation that they may have gotten to Minnesota. Another question that would clarify the answer to the first one is that how much, if any, of the Sagas are accurate when pertaining to these details? For starters, there are many pieces of the Saga that puzzle scholars as to what the passages mean, such as the natives of specific islands that Leif and Karlsefni visit. There is a passage in the Discovery of Viking America text that says that Leif Eriksson settles in what is modern day Cambridge Massachusetts, which surprised me, considering that we’re taught in elementary school that the Pilgrims were the first Europeans to settle in Massachusetts. This just proves to me that there are things out there that we have yet to discover, and I want to possibly find out some of these secrets.
Checkpoint IV
Annotated Bibliography
Hermannsson, Halldór. “Tyrkir, Leif Erikson's Foster-Father” Modern Language Notes 69 (1954): 388-393. Print.
This article goes into more detail about Leif Erikson’s discoveries of the different lands in North America, and how different details in the text can relate to different theories that have arisen in the recent decades. This article would truly be for someone who is looking to do more research on the Saga of Erik the Red. Mr. Hermannsson does an excellent job of easing us into the segments of the saga presented in his article, and clearly states his discoveries in a way that we can understand them without having to put too much thought into them.
Andrew J. Dugmore, Keller, Christian, Thomas H. McGovern. “Norse Greenland Settlement: Reflections on Climate Change, Trade, and the Contrasting Fates of Human Settlements in the North Atlantic Islands.” Arctic Anthropology 44 (2007): 12-36 JSTOR. Web. 13 October 2014.
This article demonstrates the different struggles of living in the Viking society of Greenland, and how harsh the climate would be especially during the winter. Though this article is mainly for anthropologists, there are those who would look to this article to get a grasp on why the Vikings had to ‘go viking’ so to speak. Andrew Dugmore comes from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Christian Keller comes from the University of Oslo, Norway and Thomas McGovern comes from Hunter college, so these authors are fully credible for their work.
Henry Kratz. “Veröld við by Jónas Kristjánsson Review.” World Literature Today 73 (1999): 549-550. JSTOR. Web. 3 October 2014.
Contrary to popular belief a review can be a great source for gathering information, especially on a narrow topic such as this. This review would be geared toward someone who is looking to learn more about a text through someone else’s observations. Kratz brings up the issue that the Greenland Saga and Erik the Red’s Saga are a continuation of the same story. This story is believed to be the history of the Viking colonies of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Henry Kratz’s review was published by the University of Oklahoma, and he is known for his work with Germanic languages. He therefore has the credibility for his reviews.
Mancini, J. M. "Discovering Viking America." Critical Inquiry (2002): 868-907. print.
This source tells of the many discoveries of Viking influences in North America and many of the arguments made by Professor R. B. Anderson, such as the very likely possibility that the Vinland colony is actually the eastern part of Massachusetts as opposed to Newfoundland. This text is ideal for someone who would want to find out more about America's past, or even about some unknown adventures of Leif Eriksson. This article even surprised me, as I had no idea that my home state of Massachusetts had been home to Viking influences.
Olson, Julius E. "PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE VINLAND CONTROVERSY." Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (1913): 147-156. print.
This source makes note of the problems in scholarship up until 1913, some of which may still persist to this very day. There is also mention of different scholars and authors in this text, and where they stand on certain issues regarding Viking Sagas. This article is perfect for someone wishing to inquire about problems relating to Viking folklore and how it has been interpreted in texts. Julius Olson is from the University of Wisconsin, so it is clear that he has a credible academic background. It is also worth mentioning that this article was published by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, which says something about the credibility of the article itself.
S., M. A. "The Problem of Wineland Review." The Geographical Journal (1937): 68-69. print.
This source is actually a review of another work dealing with the possibility of where the colonies founded by Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni actually may be. The great thing about reading a review is that it allows the reader to see the flaws of the text in question due to updates in the field from future scholars. The author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson, is a credible author due to his previous works dealing with Norse culture.
McKusick , Marshall and Wahlgren, Erik “The Norse Penny Mystery.” Archaeology of Eastern North America (1980): 1-10. Print.
This source lists off multiple pieces of evidence that Viking explorers (possibly Leif Eriksson) have explored the east coast of North America. Some of these pieces of evidence include the Kensington Runestone and multiple coins found on the coast of Maine. This source is ideal for anyone who is interested in how an artifact is analyzed and how said artifact could be used as evidence to support a theory.
Hoidal, Oddvar K. “Norsemen and the North American Forests” Journal of Forest History (1980): 200-203. Print.
This source goes into great detail about how the Vikings would have used lumber from North America to support the Greenland and Vinland colonies. It even specifically mentions that whatever trees found in Greenland would be used as firewood, whereas the trees that were harvested from North America were mainly different forms of Maple trees. This article would be useful for those who study trees, Viking settlements, or anthropology.
Roylance, Patricia Jane “Northmen and Native Americans: The Politics of Landscape in the Age of Longfellow” The New England Quarterly (2007) 435-458. Print.
This Source tells of the multiple theories and legends that point out that Leif Eriksson actually sailed up the Charles River in 1000 and founded the city of Cambridge. The article actually tells about how different organizations in Massachusetts had differing beliefs when it came to finding out that the state may have Viking ancestry. This article would be interesting for those wanting to look into the history of Massachusetts, or someone who is into conspiracy theories in general.
Abstract
Everyone knows that Leif Eriksson was the first European to set foot on North American soil, but how far inland did his kinfolk actually explore? Historians and Archaeologists have debated this issue for decades, but one thing is clear; there is evidence to support that maybe Leif Eriksson got as far as Massachusetts, and that Vikings had explored farther than we had originally thought. With newer technologies being created, technologies such as carbon dating, artifacts found that have unknown origins can be traced back to when it was created. One of these pieces of evidence, which is actually a great example to use in this case is the coins found in Maine. These coins are about the size of a dime and were dated to be from 1065-1080 CE which is the latter portion of the Viking age and around the time of Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson. The article, titled The Norse Penny Mystery, states that “Altogether there appear to be some 3,000 Norwegian pennies of various types known from this period. Most of the coins are owned by museums because they came from excavated coin hoards or were purchased from those which were accidentally discovered. Obviously the Maine penny would not be used in a casual or even deliberate hoax because it was simply unavailable. Someone seeking to prove that the Vikings reached Maine would have chosen a coin from the earlier reign of Olaf I Tryggvason (995-1000), for it would be less controversial in dating the saga period of known Norse voyages to America.” There have been archaeological pieces of evidence found in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well. In Massachusetts there was a skeleton wearing armor found in Fall River that predated most artifacts found in the area. That is what makes the discovery so abnormal, the Native Americans never wore any sort of armor that we know of, so then who else could have lived in the area? The same source that points out this fact also notes that when the Saga of Erik the Red was translated, it was discovered that many of the details of the colonies were descriptive of the topography of the New England area. Many organizations and scholars claim this legend to be bogus, while others have opposing beliefs. There were mounds discovered in Newfoundland that are believed to have been created by Viking settlers, but truly nobody knows who built them. This is still a topic that is up for debate, but only time and effort will tell if the Vikings really did land in North America beyond Newfoundland.
Checkpoint I
My chosen text is the Saga of Erik the Red. I have a basic idea of what makes him famous, but I have never read any Norse Sagas before and he is a historical figure that I would like to know more about.
Checkpoint II
Annotated Bibliography:
Thorsson, Ӧrnólfur, ed. The Sagas of the Icelanders . New York: Penguin Books, 2001. Print.
This is the main text that I have read for this assignment. The editorial board for this collection is mainly from academic backgrounds such as the University of Iceland. This collection is for those who would like to know more about Viking literature and culture through the different sagas. Some of these sagas are more mythological than historical, but the saga I needed to focus on was the Saga of Erik the Red.
Andrew J. Dugmore, Keller, Christian, Thomas H. McGovern. “Norse Greenland Settlement: Reflections on Climate Change, Trade, and the Contrasting Fates of Human Settlements in the North Atlantic Islands.” Arctic Anthropology 44 (2007): 12-36 JSTOR. Web. 13 October 2014.
This article demonstrates the different struggles of living in the Viking society of Greenland, and how harsh the climate would be especially during the winter. Though this article is mainly for anthropologists, there are those who would look to this article to get a grasp on why the Vikings had to ‘go viking’ so to speak. Andrew Dugmore comes from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Christian Keller comes from the University of Oslo, Norway and Thomas McGovern comes from Hunter college, so these authors are fully credible for their work.
Henry Kratz. “Veröld við by Jónas Kristjánsson Review.” World Literature Today 73 (1999): 549-550. JSTOR. Web. 3 October 2014.
Contrary to popular belief a review can be a great source for gathering information, especially on a narrow topic such as this. This review would be geared toward someone who is looking to learn more about a text through someone else’s observations. Kratz brings up the issue that the Greenland Saga and Erik the Red’s Saga are a continuation of the same story. This story is believed to be the history of the Viking colonies of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Henry Kratz’s review was published by the University of Oklahoma, and he is known for his work with Germanic languages. He therefore has the credibility for his reviews.
Summary of Chosen Text:
Erik The Red’s Saga is one of struggle and strife. It begins by telling the history of Erik’s lineage and how his family came to Iceland. Afterwards it tends to jump between points of view, with the main ones being Leif Eriksson and Thorstein Eriksson. During this time, Christianity is taking the Viking world by storm and the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, orders Leif to convert Greenland to Christianity. This causes tension between the settlers of the Greenland colony, as about half of them still wish to follow the Viking religion. Eventually, Leif sets sail to find better land due to a shortage of resources in Greenland and ends up travelling to Vinland, while Thorstein gets into all sorts of trouble. The saga then follows a young man by the name of Thorfinn Karlsefni, who marries a woman named Gudrid, who is from the Greenland colony, and has great importance later in her life. Karlsefni and a few others set sail as well. They went to Ireland for at least a fortnight (two weeks) and get into trouble with the locals. The saga ends by telling us about the descendants of Karlsefni and Gudrid, which two of them end up being Bishops, as Christianity has fully taken hold at this point.
Critical Analysis/Close Readings:
“The cooks boiled the meat and they ate it, but it made everyone ill. Thorall then came up and spoke ‘Didn’t Old Redbeard prove to be more help than your Christ? This was my payment for the poem I composed about Thor, my guardian, who’s seldom disappointed me.’ Once they heard this no one wanted to eat the whale meat, they cast it off a cliff and threw themselves on God’s mercy.” (Thorsson, 668)
This quote comes from the end of section 8 of the saga. It describes a situation where the people of Greenland need food and a whale washes up on shore. The whale ends up being poisonous to eat for the group. When Thorall says his piece, the other members of the group throw out the whale meat immediately. This quote shows how there was some tension between the different members of the colony, and how Christianity is tearing them apart. I also noticed that Christianity was seen in a more positive light than the Viking religion, which reminds me that the original text was most likely written by a Christian Monk in order to convert the public to Christianity and to legitimize the history of the surrounding area. This is even more believable due to the fact that monks were taken as slaves by Viking societies.
“Leif said the king should decide that, but added that he feared this message would meet with a harsh reception in Greenland. The king said he saw no man more suitable for the job than Leif- ‘and you’ll have the good fortune that’s needed’.” (Thorsson, 661)
This quote shows the wisdom of Leif Eriksson and how he would prove to be a great leader when he travels to Vinland later in his life. It also shows Leif’s concern for the reception of the news of being forced to convert to Christianity and abandoning the old way of life. This is shown throughout the text and Erik the Red himself and Thorall are the two biggest advocates of this. Though he does not follow Christian beliefs, Erik is tolerant of its presence in his colony. He shows this when he agrees to marry Karlsefni and Gudrid, for she is a Christian woman. There is much Christian influence throughout the text, but this quote demonstrates the politics of converting a society to a different religion. It also shows that the Viking societies are only beginning to succumb to Christianity, for if the king of Norway has converted to Christianity, then naturally he’d want his subjects to also be converted as well.
“Freydis came out of the camp as they were fleeing. She called, ‘Why do you flee such miserable opponents, men like you who look to me to be capable of killing them off like sheep? Had I a weapon I’m sure I would fight better than any of you.’” (Thorsson, 670)
This quote brings up the speculation that women often fought in Viking society, which most cultures forbade in those days. This surprises me since a Christian monk most likely wrote down the text, which usually did not portray women in such a way unless they were fighting some sort of evil being. This makes me realize that this portion of the text in the original saga may have very well been the case, but had a different meaning to the monk who wrote it down as opposed to the editors of this collection. This shows that anyone in Viking society was valued as a warrior, as the men would usually go and raid a monastery, while the women would defend the home from other threats.
Checkpoint III
Bibliography:
Mancini, J. M. "Discovering Viking America." Critical Inquiry (2002): 868-907. print.
This source tells of the many discoveries of Viking influences in North America and many of the arguments made by Professor R. B. Anderson, such as the very likely possibility that the Vinland colony is actually the eastern part of Massachusetts as opposed to Newfoundland. This text is ideal for someone who would want to find out more about America's past, or even about some unknown adventures of Leif Eriksson. This article even surprised me, as I had no idea that my home state of Massachusetts had been home to Viking influences.
Olson, Julius E. "PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE VINLAND CONTROVERSY." Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (1913): 147-156. print.
This source makes note of the problems in scholarship up until 1913, some of which may still persist to this very day. There is also mention of different scholars and authors in this text, and where they stand on certain issues regarding Viking Sagas. This article is perfect for someone wishing to inquire about problems relating to Viking folklore and how it has been interpreted in texts. Julius Olson is from the University of Wisconsin, so it is clear that he has a credible academic background. It is also worth mentioning that this article was published by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, which says something about the credibility of the article itself.
S., M. A. "The Problem of Wineland Review." The Geographical Journal (1937): 68-69. print.
This source is actually a review of another work dealing with the possibility of where the colonies founded by Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni actually may be. The great thing about reading a review is that it allows the reader to see the flaws of the text in question due to updates in the field from future scholars. The author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson, is a credible author due to his previous works dealing with Norse culture.
Note: I actually found this text through the author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson. I was looking for his article "The Northmen in America" when I came across this review.
Reflection:
There are a few issues in scholarship when it comes to the Viking age of exploration. The one that seems to be the most prevalent is that the exact locations of colonies such as Vinland, Helluland, and others are unknown. One thing, and I actually find this rather amusing, is that these authors make statements about other authors having little faith in the Sagas when it comes to details about the explorers reaching America. There is also speculation amongst multiple scholars that the Natives mentioned in the text in question were actually Eskimos, which would make sense, given how far north the colony of Greenland is compared to the rest of North America. One issue that was mentioned in the Problem with Wineland review was that “…the problem is to decide which of these two accounts to accept as material from which to attempt an elucidation of the actual voyages.” (S. 68) and which author’s version of each text is more accurate. This issue is further evident in the Vinland Controversy article because Julius Olson makes note that one of the scholars mentions strong currents in their interpretation of the Sagas, which would lead to the reason why the Viking explorers actually went farther south than we had originally anticipated.
Query:
When referring to exploration in the times of Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni, there are a few questions that one might have about the whole endeavor. One in particular that inspired me to write about this topic is that how far had the efforts of these Viking explorers gotten? There is more and more evidence that supports Norse explorers reaching North America much, much earlier than Christopher Columbus. One piece of evidence that is still controversial to this day is the Kensington Runestone. From what I understand, the state of Minnesota seems to believe that its heritage traces back to Norse explorers (otherwise, why would their football team be called the Vikings?) which would be a huge gamechanger in terms of our natural history. There is also record of a Viking grave found in Massachusetts, which also adds to the validity of this question, and I do not doubt that there would be Vikings in New England if they had at least gotten as far as Newfoundland along with the speculation that they may have gotten to Minnesota. Another question that would clarify the answer to the first one is that how much, if any, of the Sagas are accurate when pertaining to these details? For starters, there are many pieces of the Saga that puzzle scholars as to what the passages mean, such as the natives of specific islands that Leif and Karlsefni visit. There is a passage in the Discovery of Viking America text that says that Leif Eriksson settles in what is modern day Cambridge Massachusetts, which surprised me, considering that we’re taught in elementary school that the Pilgrims were the first Europeans to settle in Massachusetts. This just proves to me that there are things out there that we have yet to discover, and I want to possibly find out some of these secrets.
Checkpoint IV
Annotated Bibliography
Hermannsson, Halldór. “Tyrkir, Leif Erikson's Foster-Father” Modern Language Notes 69 (1954): 388-393. Print.
This article goes into more detail about Leif Erikson’s discoveries of the different lands in North America, and how different details in the text can relate to different theories that have arisen in the recent decades. This article would truly be for someone who is looking to do more research on the Saga of Erik the Red. Mr. Hermannsson does an excellent job of easing us into the segments of the saga presented in his article, and clearly states his discoveries in a way that we can understand them without having to put too much thought into them.
Andrew J. Dugmore, Keller, Christian, Thomas H. McGovern. “Norse Greenland Settlement: Reflections on Climate Change, Trade, and the Contrasting Fates of Human Settlements in the North Atlantic Islands.” Arctic Anthropology 44 (2007): 12-36 JSTOR. Web. 13 October 2014.
This article demonstrates the different struggles of living in the Viking society of Greenland, and how harsh the climate would be especially during the winter. Though this article is mainly for anthropologists, there are those who would look to this article to get a grasp on why the Vikings had to ‘go viking’ so to speak. Andrew Dugmore comes from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Christian Keller comes from the University of Oslo, Norway and Thomas McGovern comes from Hunter college, so these authors are fully credible for their work.
Henry Kratz. “Veröld við by Jónas Kristjánsson Review.” World Literature Today 73 (1999): 549-550. JSTOR. Web. 3 October 2014.
Contrary to popular belief a review can be a great source for gathering information, especially on a narrow topic such as this. This review would be geared toward someone who is looking to learn more about a text through someone else’s observations. Kratz brings up the issue that the Greenland Saga and Erik the Red’s Saga are a continuation of the same story. This story is believed to be the history of the Viking colonies of Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Henry Kratz’s review was published by the University of Oklahoma, and he is known for his work with Germanic languages. He therefore has the credibility for his reviews.
Mancini, J. M. "Discovering Viking America." Critical Inquiry (2002): 868-907. print.
This source tells of the many discoveries of Viking influences in North America and many of the arguments made by Professor R. B. Anderson, such as the very likely possibility that the Vinland colony is actually the eastern part of Massachusetts as opposed to Newfoundland. This text is ideal for someone who would want to find out more about America's past, or even about some unknown adventures of Leif Eriksson. This article even surprised me, as I had no idea that my home state of Massachusetts had been home to Viking influences.
Olson, Julius E. "PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE VINLAND CONTROVERSY." Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (1913): 147-156. print.
This source makes note of the problems in scholarship up until 1913, some of which may still persist to this very day. There is also mention of different scholars and authors in this text, and where they stand on certain issues regarding Viking Sagas. This article is perfect for someone wishing to inquire about problems relating to Viking folklore and how it has been interpreted in texts. Julius Olson is from the University of Wisconsin, so it is clear that he has a credible academic background. It is also worth mentioning that this article was published by the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, which says something about the credibility of the article itself.
S., M. A. "The Problem of Wineland Review." The Geographical Journal (1937): 68-69. print.
This source is actually a review of another work dealing with the possibility of where the colonies founded by Leif Eriksson and Thorfinn Karlsefni actually may be. The great thing about reading a review is that it allows the reader to see the flaws of the text in question due to updates in the field from future scholars. The author of the text being reviewed, Halldór Hermansson, is a credible author due to his previous works dealing with Norse culture.
McKusick , Marshall and Wahlgren, Erik “The Norse Penny Mystery.” Archaeology of Eastern North America (1980): 1-10. Print.
This source lists off multiple pieces of evidence that Viking explorers (possibly Leif Eriksson) have explored the east coast of North America. Some of these pieces of evidence include the Kensington Runestone and multiple coins found on the coast of Maine. This source is ideal for anyone who is interested in how an artifact is analyzed and how said artifact could be used as evidence to support a theory.
Hoidal, Oddvar K. “Norsemen and the North American Forests” Journal of Forest History (1980): 200-203. Print.
This source goes into great detail about how the Vikings would have used lumber from North America to support the Greenland and Vinland colonies. It even specifically mentions that whatever trees found in Greenland would be used as firewood, whereas the trees that were harvested from North America were mainly different forms of Maple trees. This article would be useful for those who study trees, Viking settlements, or anthropology.
Roylance, Patricia Jane “Northmen and Native Americans: The Politics of Landscape in the Age of Longfellow” The New England Quarterly (2007) 435-458. Print.
This Source tells of the multiple theories and legends that point out that Leif Eriksson actually sailed up the Charles River in 1000 and founded the city of Cambridge. The article actually tells about how different organizations in Massachusetts had differing beliefs when it came to finding out that the state may have Viking ancestry. This article would be interesting for those wanting to look into the history of Massachusetts, or someone who is into conspiracy theories in general.
Abstract
Everyone knows that Leif Eriksson was the first European to set foot on North American soil, but how far inland did his kinfolk actually explore? Historians and Archaeologists have debated this issue for decades, but one thing is clear; there is evidence to support that maybe Leif Eriksson got as far as Massachusetts, and that Vikings had explored farther than we had originally thought. With newer technologies being created, technologies such as carbon dating, artifacts found that have unknown origins can be traced back to when it was created. One of these pieces of evidence, which is actually a great example to use in this case is the coins found in Maine. These coins are about the size of a dime and were dated to be from 1065-1080 CE which is the latter portion of the Viking age and around the time of Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson. The article, titled The Norse Penny Mystery, states that “Altogether there appear to be some 3,000 Norwegian pennies of various types known from this period. Most of the coins are owned by museums because they came from excavated coin hoards or were purchased from those which were accidentally discovered. Obviously the Maine penny would not be used in a casual or even deliberate hoax because it was simply unavailable. Someone seeking to prove that the Vikings reached Maine would have chosen a coin from the earlier reign of Olaf I Tryggvason (995-1000), for it would be less controversial in dating the saga period of known Norse voyages to America.” There have been archaeological pieces of evidence found in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well. In Massachusetts there was a skeleton wearing armor found in Fall River that predated most artifacts found in the area. That is what makes the discovery so abnormal, the Native Americans never wore any sort of armor that we know of, so then who else could have lived in the area? The same source that points out this fact also notes that when the Saga of Erik the Red was translated, it was discovered that many of the details of the colonies were descriptive of the topography of the New England area. Many organizations and scholars claim this legend to be bogus, while others have opposing beliefs. There were mounds discovered in Newfoundland that are believed to have been created by Viking settlers, but truly nobody knows who built them. This is still a topic that is up for debate, but only time and effort will tell if the Vikings really did land in North America beyond Newfoundland.